Darius stared emotionlessly at his phone. No one could have known what he was thinking, not even Alicia, who had eavesdropped on the call from the beginning.

Moments of silence went by before Alicia gathered the courage to approach his side. She kept two steps away from him while speaking. “Sir, shouldn’t we go and save Kate? She hasn’t done anything wrong all this while, after all.”

Although Darius turned to meet her gaze, it took a while before he sighed and responded, “Indeed, she’s innocent